Most of the imperative forms are characterized by the final u becoming e.
| Type | Becomes | Examples | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irregular verbs | |||
| する suru | しろ shiro せよ seyo |
勘弁する kanben suru 愛する aisuru (love) |
勘弁しろ kanben shiro 勘弁せよ kanben seyo |
| 来る kuru | 来い koi | ||
| くれる kureru | くれ kure | ||
| masu stem | -ませ -mase | いらっしゃいます irasshaimasu (come, go) | いらっしゃいませ irasshaimase |
| だ da (copula) | であれ de are | ||
| Regular consonant stem (v5) verbs | |||
| -う -u | -え -e | 使う tsukau (use) | 使え tsukae |
| -く -ku | -け -ke | 焼く yaku (grill) | 焼け yake |
| -ぐ -gu | -げ -ge | 泳ぐ oyogu (swim) | 泳げ oyoge |
| -す -su | -せ -se | 示す shimesu (show) | 示せ shimese |
| -つ -tsu | -て -te | 待つ matsu (wait) | 待て mate |
| -ぬ -nu | -ね -ne | 死ぬ shinu (die) | 死ね shine |
| -ぶ -bu | -べ -be | 呼ぶ yobu (call) | 呼べ yobe |
| -む -mu | -め -me | 読む yomu (read) | 読め yome |
| -る -ru | -れ -re | 走る hashiru (run) | 走れ hashire |
| aru special class (v5aru) | |||
| -る -ru | -い -i | いらっしゃる irassharu なさる nasaru |
いらっしゃい irasshai なさい nasai |
| Regular vowel stem (v1) verbs | |||
| -いる -iru, -える -eru | -いろ -iro, -いよ -iyo -えろ -ero, -えよ -eyo |
着替える kigaeru (change clothes) | 着替えろ kigaero 着替えよ kigaeyo |
- The rule for polite verbs ending in -ru applies to the consonant-stem honorific verbs irassharu, ossharu, kudasaru, gozaru, and nasaru, whose imperative forms are the same as their irregular i forms.
Usage
The imperative form is used
- in orders, such as in the military, or to inferiors, or in textbook exercises,
- in set phrases such as nani shiro: "no matter what".
- in reported speech, where a polite request may be reported using a plain imperative: kashite kudasai (direct) kase to iwareta (he told me to lend it to him).
Read more about this topic: Japanese Verb Conjugation
Famous quotes containing the word imperative:
“To me Americanism means ... an imperative duty to be nobler than the rest of the world.”
—Meyer London (1871–1926)
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)
“If the Revolution has the right to destroy bridges and art monuments whenever necessary, it will stop still less from laying its hand on any tendency in art which, no matter how great its achievement in form, threatens to disintegrate the revolutionary environment or to arouse the internal forces of the Revolution, that is, the proletariat, the peasantry and the intelligentsia, to a hostile opposition to one another. Our standard is, clearly, political, imperative and intolerant.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)